


Aconitum

by OlkarianPrincess



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Flirting, Galra Pidge | Katie Holt, Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt, happy with an angst ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:14:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24337981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OlkarianPrincess/pseuds/OlkarianPrincess
Summary: Shiro, a paladin of Voltron, keeps running into a cute Galra (Pidge).
Relationships: Pidge | Katie Holt/Shiro
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	Aconitum

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from anon on Tumblr:
> 
> Can you write a shiro x pidge and one-sided Pidge x loter were there on opposite sides of the war Pidge is Gaara and betrothed to Prince lotor shiro is a pilot of Voltron
> 
> But I was a bit liberal with it!

1

_ Huff. Huff. _

Shiro doubled over the moment he rounded the corner. Inhaling as deeply and quietly as he could, he attempted to catch his breath. He couldn’t relax, though. They were still on his trail. The dark alleyway was a temporary sanctuary from the alien police force, but stopping also meant losing his momentum.

All too aware of the sweat pooling beneath his armor—of the painful tension in every muscle of his body—he waited in silence. The footsteps grew louder. Closer. In one hand, he clenched his bayard, ready to strike. In the other-

The sphere was gone.

Suddenly, everything melted away. The pain, the sounds, the worry of being caught—all gone. After all, none of it mattered if he had lost the one thing it was all for. Frantically, he searched the small satchel looped around his torso, and then the ground. The sphere was nowhere to be found.

And then there were footsteps.

On instinct alone, he spun around, but he was unprepared for what he saw.

At the end of his bayard was a single, cloaked figure. No police. No guns aimed for his head. Just an entity shrouded in darkness.

“I think you dropped this,” the mysterious stranger said.

Shiro paused before he looked down to their extended hand. A reflection caught his eye. Barely visible, beneath the shadow of a hood, he saw a yellow visor. Behind the visor, two piercing eyes.

And in the outstretched hand was the sphere.

Realization, followed by relief, swept into his body as the air did in his lungs. Without hesitation, he snatched the sphere and tucked it safely into his satchel. His eyes were only off the figure for a moment, but when he looked up, his strange ally was gone.

When Shiro peered out of the alleyway in hopes of spotting them, he saw nothing but the bodies of unconscious, bruised police littering the ground.

2

Music filled the grand room and, although he was certain it sounded like a fanciful masterpiece to the planet’s resident aliens, it was utter torture for Shiro’s human ears and acoustical tastes. Still, he forced a smile on his lips and waited, eyes glancing around the ball.

The wine, or whatever deep purple liquid it was that swirled about in his glass, wasn’t half bad, and he did recognize a few of the attendees. But Shiro was still bitter. This wasn’t supposed to be his mission.

Lance was the one that suggested they make a covert exchange with their informant. Lance was the one that insisted it had to be at a diplomatic ball. LANCE was the one that emphasized how much he wanted to go.

And yet...

Shiro tried to push away the bitter thoughts that attempted to take over his mind. He knew Coran had his best interests in mind. He also knew that he and Coran had very different ideas of what a “much needed relaxing break of a mission” looked like. 

With a sigh, Shiro abandoned that train of thought and focused on finding his contact. Unfortunately, being a super secret matter of intergalactic importance, team Voltron got very little information on what their ally looked like. There was but one clue: the contact would wear a flower pin. They’d at least been given a photo. If they hadn’t, Shiro was certain that Matt would’ve gone on a full out rant about how disappointed Colleen would be that a group of intelligent aliens didn’t recognize not only how common flowers could be in decorative attire but what variety of flowers there are across inhabitable planets. Fortunately, the green lion’s paladin had only done a mini-rant.

Two hours into the ball, Shiro had seen no flower pin. Awkward conversations were plentiful, as were suspiciously jiggly finger foods. But no pin. With a sigh, Shiro pressed his back into the column behind him. He was about to contact Allura to see if the plan was a bust when something caught his eye.

Across the ballroom floor, in a perfectly tailored Galra-equivalent to a suit, stood a handsome gentleman with a gold flower pin on his chest. Wolfs-bane, Shiro recalled Matt saying. That’s what the flower resembled. He stared for but a moment, and startled when brilliant yellow eyes stared back.

A genuine smile on his lips, he moved swiftly across the dance floor. On the other side, his companion awaited with an extended hand. Warmth bloomed in his chest, as did a different feeling. Familiarity. He felt as though this was not the first time they’d met.

“May I have this dance,” Shiro asked as he delicately took the other man’s hand into his own, pressing a soft kiss to the back.

“That’s what we’re here for,” the Galra replied.

“Oh is it?” Shiro asked.

He would never tell his friends, but he was enjoying the opportunity to flirt with a pretty stranger. The Galra had a short, slim body, but was clearly in good shape. His mess of deep purple, puffy hair reminded Shiro of Matt, although Matt didn’t have two soft cat-like ears hidden beneath his cut.

“I thought a gentleman like you would be here for something else,” Shiro continued.

“Perhaps I’m here to meet a friend,” his dance partner replied.

“That makes more sense. For some reason, you don’t strike me as the kind of person to voluntarily attend these events.”

A delightful laugh spilled from the Galra’s mouth, forcing Shiro to turn his head away. It was hard to hide a growing blush when in close proximity with another person. So he switched tactics. The conversation changed, ebbing and flowing with the melody that surrounded them. Until, at last, the song ended.

“I think you dropped this,” his partner remarked with a grin.

Eyebrows furrowed, Shiro tried to decipher the words, but was answered by warm hands wrapping around his own. His heart skipped a beat and then his mind took over. The Galra drew away, but left something behind. Grasping the small device firmly, Shiro moved toward the edge of the crowd. He had to let Allura know that the data had been delivered.

3

_ Please be safe. _

Shiro’s heart pounded heavily in his chest. If he hadn’t known better, he would’ve thought the beat alone was shaking the cockpit of the black lion. They hadn’t been able to respond. The distress signal came just after Haggar’s forces launched a surprise attack. There was no way for them to respond.

Shiro prayed to whatever gods would help him that the city was safe. The Rodlians had been one of the first members of the Voltron Coalition. They didn’t deserve to be punished for that.

The black lion entered Rodlia’s atmosphere. As they descended, smoke obscured the lion’s screen, and Shiro’s heart raced faster. Prepared to launch straight into battle, he was overcome with dread when the city became visible and no enemy was spotted. The worst, it seemed, had already come to pass.

Landing roughly, Shiro sprung from his lion-ship, ready to do everything in his power to find survivors. But the streets were not littered with victims of war. Here and there, buildings suffered damage, but the citizens seemed to be in good health, if not tired. Spotting him, the city leader came forward.

“What happened? We were attacked and couldn’t get here in time. Did you defeat them yourselves?” Shiro launched into inquiry.

“It’s alright, son,” the older alien patted his leg. 

Her head only went as high as his thigh, and yet her voice commanded respect. Instantly, he felt a little better.

“We’re alright. Lady Pidge came to our aid.”

A bony finger pointed in the direction of a cloaked figure, several yards away. Shiro thanked the leader and apologized once more (to which he got a gentle head shake in response) before heading over to greet the one called “Pidge.”

“Excuse me,” he called out.

The figure turned at the sound of his voice, revealing a familiar face.

“Lady Pidge?” Shiro sputtered, “Oh shit I’m so sorry, I called you a man before, I-“

Pidge, the handsome contact he had danced with at the ball, waved off his words with a smile.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I don’t care.”

“Ah, alright. Well, what are you doing here?”

“The Coalition sent me. I’ll tell you more, but it’s going to cost you.”

Once again, the Galra had thrown Shiro for a loop.

“What?”

Pidge pointed and Shiro followed the direction of her finger...all the way to his metal arm.

“Let me take a look at it?” she asked, an intense sparkle in her eyes.

“Oh, okay,” he responded with a laugh.

Warmth filled his chest as he trailed after her towards a laptop (of sorts) situated at the base of a statue.

4

“No fair! How come Shiro gets a secret admirer?!” Lance whined.

“Yeah! How come Coran lets Shiro have two girlfriends and I get none?” Hunk joined in, a huge smile on his face.

“Hunk,” Keith shot him a glare, “That’s biphobic.”

“Oh, you’re right Keith, my bad. How come Coran lets Shiro have a girlfriend and a boyfriend and I get none?”

Keith collapsed onto the couch with laughter at Hunk’s response and even Shiro couldn’t keep himself from grinning. He scooped up the package Coran had deposited on the table and turned to make his escape, sparing Allura a brief glance before he went. She looked...done, to put a word to it.

In his quarters, alone and away from prying eyes, Shiro gingerly opened the heavy metal box. Of course he knew it wasn’t a present from a secret admirer. That whole bit of drama was entirely a product of Matt’s desire to stir up trouble. But he still didn’t know what it was or who it was from. All Coran said was that someone from the Coalition had sent it.

With bated breath, and a quick prayer that there was not, in fact, a bomb inside, Shiro pressed the buttons on either side of the box and watched as it clicked open. Inside, delicately wrapped, was a thin holopad. He activated and it glowed with life, displaying the message:

_ Thought you could use an upgrade.  _

_ (PS: I’ve included installation instructions.) _

And below the message was a little icon of some cute gremlin face with swirly glasses.

Shiro set the device to the side and opened the compartment below the first one. He almost cried when he saw the gift.

Inside was a brand new, clearly custom-made, prosthetic arm.

5

“I’m still not comfortable going into the heart of the Galra empire, invited or not,” Shiro stated as they approached the massive space station.

“I’ve gotta agree,” Matt said, although his voice lacked its usual carefree tone.

“Relax,” Allura assured, “now that Lotor’s emperor, we don’t need to worry about the Galra attacking us. At least, not the ones under his command.”

“Oh yeah and what about the other 40% of Galra that aren’t?” he heard Lance mutter.

Apparently Allura heard him too, as was indicated by the thump and yelp that followed. 

“Lotor is gaining more and more of the Galra’s allegiance each day,” Allura reassured them. “I’ve heard a large part of it is due to the support for his fiancé. Many of the Galra feel more comfortable about his rule knowing they’ll be married.”

“Must be some lady. Or dude. Or, ya know,” Hunk added.

“Quite right,” Coran chipped in. “Maybe you’ll get to meet them.”

Further conversation was cut off by their arrival. Boarding the station was tense, but otherwise uneventful. As they walked through halls radiating with purple light, Shiro couldn’t help but make a pattern of clenching and unclenching his fist. It was an uncomfortable situation for all of them, but Shiro would be lying if he said it wasn’t worse for him and Matt. In truth, there were several thoughts on repeat in his mind keeping him sane.

First was the knowledge that they’d receive valuable access to Galra tactical data and technological schematics. He’d be able to study it and come up with better plans to free the universe. Second was the thought of getting to punch Lotor in the face, should the emperor step out of line. It was an unlikely situation, but the fantasy brought him joy. And like that fantasy, his third thought, of potentially running into Pidge again, kept him going.

Lotor greeted them outside of the throne room and Shiro focused on taking deep breaths while his friends questioned the new Galra ruler. He could barely process what everyone was saying. It was just another mission, he told himself. It would be over soon. Hunk asked about culture and Lance exclaimed something that sounded like “a nanny,” but the full conversation didn’t register in Shiro’s mind. They were being swept into the throne room, Lotor monologuing some nonsense, and light flooded through the opening of the heavy doors as they stepped in. 

Shiro blinked once, twice, and then his gaze locked onto a pair of familiar yellow eyes. Warmth flooded his chest. A smile danced on his lips. The tension melted away and suddenly he found himself able to focus. It was just in time for him to hear Lotor say:

“And I’d like to introduce you to my fiancé, Lady Pidge.”

The yellow eyes that had met his quickly looked away.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr @OlkarianPrincess
> 
> Prompts are open :3 Will I fill them?? Who knows.
> 
> Always avail to chat tho!


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